Tarpley & Underwood
Financial Advisors, LLC
In the summer of 2009, there were more than 60,000 CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificants. In an average year, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. conducts about 80 ethics code investigations. This means that 99.9% of CFP® practitioners are abiding by the Board’s ethical and behavioral standards.1,2 You can visit www.cfp.net to check that a financial planner has maintained the designation (and you can also learn if he/she has been publicly disciplined).
Look for a communicator who wants to establish a true relationship. A good and conscientious financial advisor will meet with you at regular intervals and assist you to adjust your financial strategy in response to life changes and changing objectives. He or she will communicate with you in a forthright, open way – and that includes returning your calls or e-mails within 24 hours.
Your advisor should not communicate with you once every six or seven years, or “disappear” six months or a year after helping you invest.
Look for someone who respects your preferred investment style. If you want to invest conservatively, a good financial advisor should respect that and offer suggestions that correspond to your wishes. If your advisor maintains that you need to invest more aggressively, you should receive a reasoned and considerate explanation why, supported by a detailed model scenario. Beware the advisor who seems to want to arm-wrestle you into investing the way they would invest, irrespective of your preferences.
Look at what your advisor is doing. If you are pressured to invest in a way you don’t want to, or if you happen to notice a lot of unwarranted buying and selling with regard to your portfolio, ask why. If you don’t get a straight answer in response, ask why you’re not getting one. Or simply take your investable assets elsewhere.
Lastly, ask around. There are financial advisors who have grown their businesses entirely
by referral. The best advisors tend to get referred – and whether the referral comes from a professional, a business owner, a golf partner, or a relative, it signifies real trust in that advisor. If a friend or colleague refers a name to you, press him or her for more information and ask what the relationship has been like. Ask what qualities about that financial advisor have inspired the referral.
There are so many trusted financial advisors in this country – hardworking, ethical and compassionate financial services professionals who work for their clients assiduously. It is easier - much easier- to find one than the skeptics would have you believe.
The information expressed in this article is provided as a service of Tarpley & Underwood Financial Advisors, LLC for its clients and other interested parties. It is not intended to be investment, legal, tax or other professional advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. If expert assistance is needed with this information, we encourage you to seek competent professional advice.
Citations. 1 cfp.net/media/profile.asp [8/31/09]
